Chapter 833: Sword of Divine Dread
"Qi Refining cultivators can project divine sense; Foundation Establishment cultivators can use divine sense to control objects; once at Golden Core, that control becomes more refined, and the power of controlling weapons and swords also increases."
"Only in the late stage of Golden Core can one begin to dabble in the art of Divine Soul Departure. And not until the Ascension stage can one truly master it."
"That's the general progression of a cultivator's spiritual power," said Xun Zixian.
Mo Hua asked with some doubt,
"But Water Yama—that criminal cultivator I encountered—he was only at the peak of Foundation Establishment, yet could already use eye techniques. Doesn't that mean he had already mastered Divine Soul Departure at Foundation stage?"
"That's why I said it's the general case," said Xun Zixian. "Foundation Establishment cultivators can perform Divine Soul Departure, but their divine sense isn't strong, so it's extremely dangerous."
"His eye technique may work on ordinary cultivators, but the moment he faces someone proficient in spirit-based combat, he'll be defeated instantly. And that's not even the worst-case scenario."
"If he encounters some evil spirit or other unknown entity, his soul could be devoured."
"If part of a cultivator's soul—the Seven Souls—are consumed, they could become mentally impaired at best, insane at worst, or even have their soul annihilated and path destroyed."
"The divine soul is far more precious than flesh or spiritual power. It must not be recklessly damaged."
Mo Hua peeked at Elder Xun Zixian and asked,
"Elder Xun, you're a late-stage Golden Core cultivator. Have you studied 'Divine Soul Departure'?"
Xun Zixian shook his head.
"I haven't."
Mo Hua was surprised.
"You haven't? Really?"
He thought for sure, with Xun Zixian's deep interest in spiritual arts, he would've at least tried it.
"The Grand Elder forbade it," Xun Zixian sighed.
"Actually, not just discouraged—he explicitly prohibited it."
"All elders of the Great Void Sect are forbidden from cultivating Divine Soul Departure. This was a strict order from the Grand Elder."
Mo Hua frowned and whispered,
"Is it because… of the Spirit Sword Technique?"
Xun Zixian's gaze trembled. He stared at Mo Hua.
"Have you been asking around behind the scenes?"
"Just a little…" Mo Hua admitted.
"And what did you find out?" Xun Zixian raised a brow.
"Nothing," Mo Hua shook his head. "No one would talk about it—everyone acts like it's taboo."
Xun Zixian nodded.
"Of course. The sect made it a rule. The Spirit Sword Technique was classified as a forbidden art—no disciples are allowed to cultivate it, so naturally no one talks about it."
"Although... there's another reason you couldn't get answers."
"Another reason?"
Xun Zixian nodded and looked seriously at Mo Hua.
"The Grand Elder gave us elders specific instructions—we are not allowed to tell you even a single word about the 'Spirit Sword Technique'."
Mo Hua's jaw dropped.
"The Grand Elder… specifically singled me out? Isn't that a little much?"
"You should understand," Xun Zixian said, lifting his eyes, "your case is special. Your body and spiritual roots are mediocre, but your divine sense talent is extraordinary. You're bright and deeply curious. If you found out there was a technique in the sect called 'Spirit Sword Technique,' you'd definitely break your back trying to learn it."
"Well…"
Mo Hua couldn't deny it.
He was breaking his back trying to learn it.
Xun Zixian sighed.
"That's exactly what the Grand Elder feared. This sword art… can no longer be learned."
"Why not?" Mo Hua asked instinctively.
Xun Zixian's eyes darkened, filled with pain.
"Have you ever been to the back mountain?"
"Back mountain?"
"The restricted area of the Great Void Sect."
Mo Hua paused, then shook his head.
"Isn't that place forbidden? I've never been."
Xun Zixian nodded slightly.
"I went once…"
"In the back mountain, there's a Sword Tomb. In that tomb lie countless broken swords—and also countless… skeletons of sword cultivators."
He took a deep breath, voice tinged with sorrow.
"Those sword cultivators were all disciples who practiced the Spirit Sword Technique. They were our predecessors."
Mo Hua's pupils contracted.
"This is the reason…" Xun Zixian said quietly.
"Those who practiced Spirit Sword died faster than others. The more talented the disciple, the faster they learned the technique—and the sooner they died young."
"Divine Soul Departure—turning the soul into a sword to kill—is to walk the edge of life and death."
"It is powerful… but overly rigid. There is no room for flexibility."
"Spiritual combat is filled with invisible killing intent. Flesh-and-blood enemies can be seen—but in battles of the soul, the stronger the opponent, the more hidden and unpredictable."
"That's why in the Great Void Sect, so few reached the Void Piercing stage and became Grand Elders."
"In other sects, when a prodigy appears, the sect nurtures them with high hopes. As long as they cultivate steadily, they can eventually hold up an entire region."
"But in our Great Void Sect…"
Xun Zixian's expression was bitter.
"Whenever a prodigy appears, we get worried instead."
"Because no matter how talented, once they choose the Spirit Sword path, they'll face unseen, deadly trials. Every step is a thorny one. If they're injured, their soul is harmed—best case, they lose their path; worst case, they die before their time…"
He was filled with grief.
Mo Hua sighed deeply as well.
No wonder…
Despite being an extraordinary sword art, it had been sealed away and forbidden.
He had guessed earlier that the technique probably had serious side effects, which was why the sect banned it.
But only now, after Elder Xun's explanation of the divine soul, did he truly understand just how dangerous it was.
Other sects' disciples "used swords and broke swords."
The Great Void Sect? Used swords and broke lives.
You could forge another sword.
But if your life soul was damaged… there was no repairing that.
And now, in this age of peace, noble disciples lived comfortably—
Even if the sect wanted to pass on the Spirit Sword Technique, it's likely few disciples would dare learn it.
"So if our sect doesn't pass on the Spirit Sword Technique, and doesn't study Divine Soul Departure… doesn't that mean we're falling behind other sects?" Mo Hua asked.
"Of course we're falling behind," Xun Zixian said.
"But it's manageable."
"Without Spirit Sword, we still have a bunch of other odds-and-ends techniques. Not as good as the top, but better than the bottom. Among the Eight Great Sects, we can still scrape by… though we're definitely last."
"Some of the elders—and even a few Grand Elders—are working on a modified version of the Spirit Sword, one that doesn't rely solely on the divine soul. Instead, it uses alternate sword intent to boost sword energy's lethality."
"If successful, it could become a new, unconventional top-tier sword path… though its power will never match the original Spirit Sword Technique."
"As for Divine Soul Departure…"
Xun Zixian paused, then said,
"That method is already considered strange and unorthodox. Most cultivators, even at the Ascension stage, don't deliberately practice Divine Soul Departure."
Mo Hua didn't understand.
"Even at Ascension? Because it's too dangerous?"
"Yes," Xun Zixian nodded.
"The Spirit Sword Technique involves both Divine Soul Departure and using it to attack. That's extremely dangerous."
"Even just Divine Soul Departure alone—if not for killing—is still not safe."
"If your divine soul is weak, and your understanding of the spirit path shallow, you won't know what kinds of demons or monsters drift through the world. The moment your soul leaves your body, you're vulnerable to possession or devouring."
"For Ascension-stage cultivators—pillars of major clans—a single mistake could mean huge losses."
"Besides, for most cultivators, Divine Soul Departure has little practical value."
"Cultivation is about using strength to overcome weakness. But the divine soul can't really be 'cultivated'—your soul isn't that much stronger than someone else's. So what's the point of sending it out?"
"And Divine Soul Departure itself is extremely difficult to learn."
"Most cultivators focus on physical martial arts or forming spells with spiritual energy. Few are willing to sit quietly and turn inward, to study the depths of their own soul…"
Mo Hua slowly nodded.
Elder Xun Zixian looked at him with sincere gravity.
"The Grand Elder forbade us from telling you these things because he worries for you. But sometimes, blocking curiosity only makes it worse."
"You're a bright kid with a hunger for knowledge. If you don't understand something, you won't let it go. So instead of hiding it, I've told you the truth—so that you can weigh the consequences and make your own choice."
Mo Hua replied earnestly,
Mo Hua said sincerely, "Thank you, Elder."
Xun Zixian waved his hand, then suddenly remembered something. His brows lifted slightly, and he responded just as earnestly,
"I've told you everything I know. Right now, it might still be beyond you, but in the future, if your cultivation improves and your horizons broaden—if you come to understand deeper Divine Dao insights, don't forget to come back and share them with me…"
Mo Hua nodded repeatedly. "Mm! Definitely!"
Their conversation had about run its course, so Mo Hua rose and took his leave.
The young servant boy escorted him to the door, watching his figure disappear into the distance, eyes dazed with admiration.
He had overheard bits and pieces of Mo Hua's conversation with Elder Xun Zixian—but hadn't understood a single word.
"Just who is this Brother Mo? He doesn't look much older than me, but he's already able to discuss cultivation and Daoist principles with Uncle Zixian, who's so knowledgeable…"
In the boy's eyes, there was an unconscious hint of longing and aspiration.
"Shuer…"
Elder Xun Zixian's voice drifted out from within the room.
The boy finally snapped out of it and replied, "Coming, Elder." Then, reluctant to leave, he gave one last look in Mo Hua's direction before turning back inside.
Mo Hua, meanwhile, was completely immersed in thoughts of "spirit-soul projection" and hadn't noticed that a little servant boy had been secretly watching him the whole time.
He walked and thought the entire way back to the disciples' quarters.
Once there, Mo Hua locked his windows and doors, then took out the Water Prison Forbidden Casket, beginning to ponder again.
The casket was a deep aquatic blue, and the bloody Hell Diagram carved into its surface looked grim and ghastly—sinister, even.
This wasn't just an ordinary drawing.
In fact, it wasn't just a simple eye technique either. Its core was actually a spirit-soul projection method.
And even Elder Xun Zixian didn't know such a method.
The Great Void Sect had explicitly forbidden the transmission of knowledge related to spirit-soul projection.
According to Elder Xun Zixian, even most cultivators who reached the Ascension Realm wouldn't intentionally study it.
But Mo Hua was different.
He now felt certain that spirit-soul projection was the prerequisite technique for Sword of Divine Dread.
If he wanted his spirit-sword to "leave its scabbard," he first needed to master spirit-soul projection.
As for the dangers? Mo Hua had already weighed them, and for him, they weren't all that serious.
After all, his greatest strength was his divine sense. If a mere river bandit like Water Yama—who wasn't even an array master—could dabble in soul projection, then how could he, Mo Hua, not?
The real question now was: how to learn it?
Mo Hua placed the Water Prison Forbidden Casket in front of him and focused on the Hell Diagram etched upon it.
"According to Elder Xun Zixian, the spirit-soul is comprised of three souls and seven spirits. If one is to exit the body, the method must be related to those components."
"Any drawing is symbolic in nature."
"That means this Hell Diagram likely symbolizes more than a prison—it could be something… related to the spirit-soul."
"Eight prisons, eight punishments, eight criminals…"
"But eight doesn't align with three souls and seven spirits."
Mo Hua frowned.
He thought over Xun Zixian's explanation carefully—then suddenly, his eyes lit up with realization.
"Humans may have three souls and seven spirits, but the heavenly and earthly souls drift outside the body and merge with heaven and earth. Only the fate soul remains within the self."
"So in reality, the body only holds one soul and seven spirits, which adds up to—eight!"
"The seven spirits parasitize the fate soul…"
Mo Hua looked again at the casket.
The diagram showed eight prison cells. One larger than the rest sat at the center, with the remaining seven arranged around it, all pointing inward.
It mirrored the theory of the "seven spirits parasitizing the fate soul."
Each of the seven outer cells had its own lock, their chains converging on the central prison's gate.
The punishments of those seven outer prisoners varied, but upon closer inspection, they all reflected aspects of the torture suffered by the central prisoner—as if fragmented parts of a single being's agony.
Mo Hua's thoughts suddenly became clear.
The Hell Diagram on the Forbidden Casket—one prison surrounded by seven cells—was aligned with the "one soul, seven spirits" model of the spirit-soul. It was essentially a symbolic diagram of the human soul.
What it presented… was the inner state of a cultivator's soul.
By meditating on this diagram over time—engraving the imagery of these tormented prisoners deeply into one's mind—a cultivator could forge a "mental image", a heart-aspect, and then engrave that heart-aspect onto their spirit-soul.
In doing so, the soul would come to embody the aura of judgment and killing carried by a prison.
Prisons symbolize punishment and execution.
Thus, a spirit-soul imbued with the image of a hellish prison would, upon projection, exude an aura capable of damaging the divine sense of others—filling them with dread, panic, or even shattering their minds entirely.
So, the Water Prison Sect's "Nurturing of Evil Qi", at its core… was actually Nurturing of the Soul.
By upholding Daoist law and executing the wicked, a cultivator would strengthen both righteous and wrathful energies—fusing those into the spirit-soul to instill awe in evildoers.
But Water Yama was different. He didn't understand nurturing the soul; he only knew nurturing malice, even going so far as to use demonic methods to accumulate deathly resentment through mass slaughter.
Those evil energies—if merely stored—would be dangerous enough.
But if one day he reached the point where that malice fused with his spirit-soul, then all the innocent lives he slaughtered would twist into uncontrollable "death-qi," rioting within and ultimately devouring his spirit, driving him mad and leaving him worse than dead.
Mo Hua's mind flickered with inspiration.
He couldn't help but think of a way to let Water Yama "dig his own grave"—without even lifting a finger.
His eyes gleamed faintly.
But for now, Water Yama hadn't resurfaced, so there was no opportunity to act.
His priority was still learning this eye technique.
Following the theory he had pieced together, Mo Hua began to attempt the cultivation method.
He calmed his heart and focused his mind, meditating on the Hell Diagram on the Forbidden Casket—burning its imagery into his memory, forming a heart-aspect from it.
At first… nothing happened.
A diagram was still just a diagram—there were no phenomena.
His mental state hadn't changed either.
But Mo Hua… wasn't discouraged.
Any cultivation method is difficult in the beginning. It requires slow and steady exploration, countless attempts, and careful study.
Just like when he studied those complex and profound array formations—it was a process of persistence, drop by drop wearing away stone. It was never something achieved in a single leap.
Mo Hua practiced formations every day, and he was well-accustomed to this kind of process.
He focused his attention to the utmost, throwing his entire mind and soul into the Hell Diagram.
Who knows how much time passed before Mo Hua suddenly felt a tremor in his heart—his divine sense finally reacted.
It seemed that something subtle was shifting within his consciousness, as if some unknown presence was beginning to "awaken."
Mo Hua's spirit surged with clarity. He began to concentrate fully and trace the source of this change.
From his external divine sense, he gradually delved inward, trying to sense the root from which his divine sense was born.
Time flowed once again. After navigating through an intangible, dreamlike process of inner exploration, Mo Hua's mind trembled—he had finally traced it to a part of himself he had never consciously grasped before—
His spirit-soul.
The sensation was incredibly subtle.
Mo Hua had sensed his own spirit-soul.
It was as if he were observing himself from the outside—gazing upon the most deeply buried part of his consciousness: his truest self.
And his spirit-soul… was complex.
Within it, numerous indistinct auras mingled—pure and impure, rising and falling in a murky swirl.
Only now did Mo Hua realize—he didn't fully understand himself.
Yet after sensing his spirit-soul, the next steps became a bit simpler.
It was time to fuse the heart-aspect into the spirit-soul.
Mo Hua began to embed the heart-image of punishment—the sight of criminals being tortured from the Hell Diagram—into his spirit-soul.
This process felt almost like remodeling the consciousness of his spirit-soul.
The fusion proceeded smoothly.
Mo Hua felt his spirit-soul shudder. From within his heart surged an intense desire to eradicate evil—as if every evildoer in the world deserved death!
Every sinner should be thrown into the Dao Prison, subjected to brutal torment, and only through such cruelty could their sins be erased…
This conviction, born from the Hell Diagram's heart-image, etched itself into his spirit-soul like a brand.
Mo Hua's gaze turned faintly fierce, the murderous intent in his eyes deepened, and his entire being began to radiate a chilling, merciless aura—like that of a brutal law enforcer.
"No! Something's wrong!"
Mo Hua immediately snapped to attention.
He forcibly pulled back his consciousness, calming his emotions, cutting off the fusion of the heart-image with his soul.
Once he severed the perception of his spirit-soul and stopped the fusion, his gaze cleared again, and the oppressive aura faded completely.
Mo Hua let out a long, involuntary sigh of relief.
"I almost went astray…"
If he had fully branded that Water Prison Sect's punitive heart-image into his spirit-soul, it would've become a permanent part of him.
Sure, he would've gained the Water Prison Sect's eye technique, but Mo Hua now realized—that wasn't what he truly wanted.
He didn't want to cultivate the "righteous malice" of the Water Prison Sect.
Though he constantly reminded himself to follow the righteous path with integrity, he understood that in this world, "good and evil" were often not so easily separated.
Where there is righteousness, there must be evil.
If one blindly pursued extreme "righteousness," they could just as easily fall into the path of evil.
More importantly… it just didn't suit his personality.
Mo Hua considered himself someone with decent interpersonal skills.
Maybe not "beloved by all and welcomed by flowers," but at the very least, warm and amicable.
Even the usually cold and aloof Uncle Gu never said anything sweet, but always looked out for him at critical moments.
When danger struck, he'd shield Mo Hua without hesitation.
And his master had always taught him: take the path of supportive offense, learn to borrow strength, and build good relationships.
If that's the case, cultivating malice like the Water Prison Sect, walking around with a cold face every day like Uncle Gu and scaring everyone off—not a great idea.
Besides, he was an array master, and he planned to devote himself to the path of formations.
If his soul was branded with the heart-image of the Water Prison Sect, it would likely lead him to obsess over punishing demonic, evil, and rogue cultivators—torturing them with every cruel method imaginable.
If that happened, he'd inevitably walk the path of the Dao-Ting Magistrate, forever bound to law enforcement.
That wasn't the future Mo Hua wanted.
So—he couldn't cultivate the Water Prison Sect's righteous malice, nor could he fuse with the prison heart-image.
If not punishment, then what could he fuse?
Mo Hua frowned in thought. As he pondered, he suddenly froze and muttered:
"Then… why not fuse sword technique?"
Fuse Spirit-Soul Sword Manifestation?!
But how?
Mo Hua furrowed his brow, falling into deep contemplation—and suddenly, as if guided by fate, a name surfaced in his mind:
Sword of Divine Dread!
Images and voices resurfaced in his consciousness.
These were fragments he'd pieced together, bits of insight and memory dredged from the mists of karmic entanglement.
"Xuan'er…"
"This sword art—I shouldn't teach you. But I can't bear to see our Great Void Sect let it vanish…"
"Your foundation is solid. Today, I'll teach you…"
"The Dread Style!"
…
Mo Hua's heart trembled.
He couldn't help but retrieve from his Storage Ring that broken sword he had obtained at the bloodstained fishing village.
This was his first time drawing the sword within the Great Void Sect's mountain gates.
(End of Chapter)